LONGSHOT

Longshot was an outstanding movie about a girl who was bullied in school. Her father left her 5 years ago and her uncle is the only one who has time to take care of her. At first he is an annoying uncle who won't leave her alone, but as time goes on they start doing little things.

The Uncle was playing football with a couple of friends when he drops the ball at her feet. Jasmine (the niece) picks the foot ball up and throws an amazing pass back to her uncle. So he starts passing and training her to tryout for the boy's football team. She gets really good, so after the coach considers it, she is finally put on the team, but is never played. When the Browns (the name of their team from Milton) were losing by a ton, the coach finally decides to put her in. They win that game. Jasmine gets her team all the way to the Superbowl for the Pop Warner League. In the last minute, the team loses.

This is a movie about a girl going through stress but is able to pull herself together through a game. Jasmine and her uncle go through a journey where they learn more about themselves and each other. It teaches a great lesson that you can be what ever you want to be when you grow up. I strongly suggest that you should see it.

Lupe Jacobson, age 12, guest reviewer

WRITING A MEMOIR

Recently I went to a book signing of a young author (Finding Nouf: Zoë Ferraris, ISBN: 0618873880) and when she was talking about her book, someone asked her, "Did you ever consider writing a memoir as opposed to fiction?" Her comments were very revealing: something like, "I tried but discovered it was too hard, mainly because of my issue with the facts. I wasn't sure what I remembered, if it was correct, how others saw it, so I gave up and decided to make my book fiction." Extremely honest!

A Friend of mine, whom I'm encouraging to write her own terrific memoir (A friend has already given her a great title, Do you think God will ever set you free and let you fly?) sent me these comments: I just read an article by Abigail Thomas entitled "Everyone Has A Story To Tell" - are you familiar with her? She said to write a memoir, just cultivate the habit of listening to yourself.

Also, that writing is the way she grounds herself, what keeps her sane (maybe that's how you feel??) She says sometimes all you have to do is open a jar - the smell of Noxzema takes her back to 1957. I understand smells, fragrances, bringing back memories. I bought myself a gardenia plant last week - the smell reminds me of growing up - we had a gardenia bush in our yard - magnolias are the same for me. Funny, what one remembers.

Back to the author's comments: A memoir is not a place to get revenge or to appear angelic or to cast oneself as victim. A memoir should not be self-serving, even accidentally. We're all full of contradiction and conflict - we have evolved out of many different selves. A memoir is one way to explore how you became the person you are. It's a story about how you got here from there.

I've thought a lot about this - guess there are things that I know my grandchildren need to know, but maybe many things they don't need to know - and, I don't know how one can write and not express feelings - old wounds, loves, hurts, the happy times (it's all in there together) - and, how do you leave certain things out?? I admire you and others who write - it's a complicated venture. bjb